My mother informs me, over the telephone, that she has just returned from a trial run of her inaugural ‘live-cam’ tour at the local Hindu temple in Kuala Lumpur. My niece, who lives in England, is learning about Hinduism in her Religious Education class and would love to show her classmates a live, on-site presentation of her grandmother’s temple.
It will include the rituals before entering the temple (removal of shoes and washing of feet), the sounds of the temple bells chiming, the colours of the flower garlands for sale by street vendors and a glimpse of the priest preparing to conduct prayers. My niece’s class will also observe the chaos of cars and motorcycles jostling for room as a sea of temple-goers descend upon the street in time for the 7 o’clock prayers.
This pioneering approach to a field trip is my sister’s idea. It is one of many ways we try to stay connected, with my mother living in Malaysia, my two sisters in England, and me in Australia.
‘How did it go?’ I ask my mother hesitantly, knowing she is uncomfortable with these high-tech gadgets as she calls them.
But my doubts are unwarranted. It was a successful rehearsal and she is looking forward to the performance in a few days. O me of little faith. Necessity is the mother of invention, and my mother has reinvented herself as Techno Gran, because nobody is jumping on a plane anytime soon, and the threads that bind us together are reinforced with regular communication.
She sends voice messages when she can’t be bothered to type into her mobile phone. She teaches me recipes via video chat. She has an ongoing emoji conversation with my six-year-old. All in all, she’s pretty savvy with these high-tech gadgets.
'They will, I hope, get a sense of the thread that connects us to our culture, and the grandmother who managed a Show and Tell 6000 miles away while only leaving her comfort zone.'
My children are lucky — they have two grandmothers. My mother-in-law, who lives in England, has been coming to Australia every year around Christmas. We have two months packed full of activity, lots of memory-making, plenty of dhal and roti, and a New Year’s Eve countdown. While these visits provide some serious bonding time, it doesn’t allow for the day-to-day relationships and learning that come from an intergenerational living arrangement, or having a grandparent who is